I love leg tattoos, cracked out hippies in thongs, vegetarian chili, hipster bikes, Hello Kitty jorts, Town Lake trail and everything else about Austin.  The city is amazing.  If you haven’t been there, go there.  And be sure to drink a lot of water Kobayashi style because you’re going to need a stretched out stomach.

Jayschun and I recently made the southbound 35 trek to go visit my brudder, Tonnish.  He has the coolest life ever.  We are mad jelly so sometimes we tag along so we can play toos.  Tonnish hadn’t seen us in a long time so he had a ton of places lined up on his Crackberry agenda.  First up, Odd Duck Trailer.  This adorable little food trailer is a slice of outdoor picnic style gourmet heaven.

It was hotter than a Mazda 626 transmission after a trip to the grocery store so we cooled off with some Texas Tea.  All natural, no preservatives – like my squid sauce.

It took awhile to get our food but you don’t want to rush greatness.  Check out the pulled pork sandwich on a baguette with onions and peppers oh my!  Ballin out of ferkin control.

Odd Duck serves small plates so we ordered a couple to share since this was dinner 1 of 3 (primero if you will).  To accompany our pulled pork baguette we tried the tomato spiced melon feta salad.  Put down your fork!  Bring out the shovel!  I don’t even like tomatoes and I ate this salad like it was candy crack.

ONE WORD: PORK BELLY SLIDER.  It was the shiz.  My name is Sara Montoya.  You killed my pig.  Prepare to die.  Oh my pig is now this delicious sammy?  K nevermind thksbye.

Dinero segundo (2nd dinner for those that don’t speak Fatty) was a hop skip and a jump over to another trailer called El Naranjo.  They are actually in the midst of renovating an old house for a retail location but I don’t know why when they can dish out badass food from this lil cart on wheels.

One look at the Specials Board and I was drooling.  Okay let’s be honest, I have a drooling problem anyways but I had to have this soup.

The patio was darling and oh so cozy.

Look at this soup!  It tasted even bamfer than it looks.  It honestly tasted like spiced cantaloupe soup.  I just had to spellcheck cantaloupe.  I want to recreate this in my high powered blender.  It is so wonderfully fresh and flavorful that I could have had 3 bowls.  Too bad I had to save room for a taco and 3rd dinner.

I’ve been to enough taco trucks now to know quality meat and seasonings.  El Naranjo ranks right up there at the top.  Fresh corn tortillas, perfectly seasoned pork, fresh cilantro and onion and a squeeze of lime.  Oh and their sauce ain’t half bad either.  At this point my tummy was like what are you doing to me?  And I was all hey stomach why don’t you quit whining like a little baby?

How come William Sonoma doesn’t have meat spits available for wedding registries?  I guess Jason and I will have to register at Doner Kebap Restaurant Supply.

3rd dinner was luckily right around the corner from El Naranjo.  G’raj Mahal is an outdoor Indian trailer eatery with Moroccan style tents to eat under.

We started with the spiced potato and pea samosas served with mint and tamarind chutneys.  These were pretty good but were a bit heavy to start off with after already consuming what most people would consume in 2 meals.

There is something about fried food that just sits in your stomach and won’t go anywhere.  It’s like the Dirk Nowitzki of food.  You get up by a couple bowls of soup and then bam you’re tied up again.

We really should have stopped eating at this point but that’s not what champions do.  So we ordered some Baingan Bartha (pureed eggplant simmered in spices served with peas) and some Madrasi (curry).  I didn’t tell my brother at the time but I’ve had better Baingan Bartha.  It was good but I was not blown away.

The rice was plain jane.  I didn’t even write home about it. Didn’t have a stamp anyhow.

Same with the madrasi.  Maybe Indian food shouldn’t come from a trailer?   Or maybe after 2 dinners in a row the 3rd dinner no matter how great won’t taste as awesome?

Wait, you ordered dessert?  Um, yes.  Duh.  Two in fact. Indian beignets (fluffy donuts with spiced sugar) and some kulfi (homemade cardamom ice cream).  You can’t call a beignet Indian.  This was a fried donut with powdered sugar on top.  Good?  Yes.  You try and screw up a fried donut with powdered sugar.  Amazing?  No.  I’d take a Gourdough’s Donut over these any day.

The kulfi ice cream tasted way too much like whipped cream.  The chopped pistachios on top were a delicious addition but the consistency of the ice cream was whack and not dope.  I’d go back to G’raj Mahal for another shot but I probably won’t eat twice before going.

Have I reminded you that all of these meals were within the span of a few hours?  My stummy hurted.  But you can’t kick off an Austin trip w/o a trip to Amy’s Ice Cream.  WORTH EVERY CALORIE!!!!  DERP!

What?  You don’t get excited about toilet paper?

If you live in Dallas or even if you live closer to Oklahoma in Frisco, you should make the trek to Bishop Arts District.  Why?  Because Eno’s Pizza Tavern is there, duh.

The Bishop Arts District is a quaint little shopping area in north Oak Cliff just 5 minutes from downtown Dallas.  It is a renovated part of town that is surrounded by an area that has not quite seen the same renovation.  Let’s put it this way – if you go an entire block without seeing a yuppie or hipster, you might want to turn around.

I don’t do any wheeling and dealing but if I did, you can bet it would take place upstairs at Eno’s.

We arrived on a Saturday night around 6pm thinking we would beat the crowds.  We still had to wait only about five minutes but the table we got had some pretty uncomfortable Adirondack chairs.

We did have prime people watching views though.

Eno’s has a very cool bar.  It’s obvious they are trying to support microbreweries and local beers.  This is not a come get drunk and throw a wet napkin ring on a deer head kind of bar.  It is an upscale caj kind of joint.  Pearl snaps and flippy floppies.

We started off with a large harvest pear salad.  This consisted of arugula, local greens, fresh basil, pear, pancetta, goat cheese (substituted in place of bleu cheese) and topped with a champagne vinaigrette.  Oh and you get a bonus piece of soft, delicious bread to soak up the dressing.  It was incredible.  I almost wanted to order another large as my entree but I didn’t want Jason to have to eat a large pizza by himself.  That would be rude of me.

We went with a large Traditional pizza with tri-colored bell peppers, fresh basil and hot sausage.  I don’t typically get sausage on my pizza because of the grease factor but their spicy sweet sausage is ballin outta control.  As you can see Eno’s has thin crust and they use only the freshest, most awesometastic ingredients.

Clean plate club check: you’re in!

Look how cool the bar is!  I toll you!  Those glass jars have bar snacks for $.50 each.  In the background there is a stage for live entertainment.

We haven’t even gotten to the best part though.  DESSERT!!!!  BEHOLD GREATNESS.  Foodpeoples, below is the Eno’s Sundae Sack.  Bluebell homemade vanilla ice cream, marshmallow cream, blueberries, pecans, hot fudge, graham cracker, cinnamon and sugar and whipped cream all nicely packaged in an edible tempered chocolate box.  If you had just read me that description and I had never seen or tasted the Sundae Sack, I would have said “Sounds gross.  Let’s go get fro-yo.”  But I took one look at this and realized it had to be omnomgarbled.  It is incredible and at least once in your life you must try this but it should probably be on a reward night because I don’t think it is fat free.  Might check with the chef though.

Jason loves buying me dinner.  You can tell by his “I love buying you dinner” face.

Moral to the Garbl?  I LOVE ENO’S and can’t wait to go back!  I better hurry up and get a job because it’s my turn to buy…

Dessert Truck wasn’t exactly on the way back to the hotel from the Brooklyn Bridge but when someone tells you they had the greatest dessert of their life there, you make the trek.

What started as an actual food truck driving delicious desserts around Manhattan led to an actual retail spot which coincidentally happened to be right next to Clinton St. Baking Company.  These two places led to my sugary demise!

The authentic French macaroons looked too good to be true.  I ordered a box of one of each to take back to my mom.  All 7 of them might not have made it back.  Stupid TSA regulations.

Okay fine I’ll admit I had one at the airport on the way back.  THEY WERE ABSOFREAKINLUTELY INCREDIBLE.  I could easily eat 10,000 of these.  At $2 each, they’re not cheap but neither is Jenny Craig.

Sesame-passion fruit.  Who knew heaven was bite sized?

Okay back to dessert snack.  I ordered the warm molten chocolate cake only because the donut squares were not available until 8pm for some reason.  The chocolate cake had an olive oil ganache center, roasted pistachios and a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.  Look at this closely.  About an hour after eating this cute little cup of sugar, I was so dizzy I could barely stand up straight and was forced to lay in bed in a very serious food coma.

Jason had the warm chocolate bread pudding with bacon custard sauce.  He loved it!  Fortunately for him, he had some eggs and potatoes already in his tummy to absorb some of the sugar.  I just had blueberry pancakes with warm maple butter.

When we were leaving the dessert truck pulled up!  Yay!  More dessert!  Lol j/k.  But srsly.

We still had a little over 3 miles to walk back to the hotel.  These bikes looked awfully intriguing.  Too bad they weren’t for rent.

Have you guys ever had chomps muffin milk?  Damn it’s good.  Good marketing too.

Hey it’s Grand Central Terminal!  I forgot how cool this thing was on the inside – making a mental note to go in next time I visit.

We finally made it back to the hotel around 9:30pm.  I was starting to feel really bad but knew I probably just needed something other than sugar in my system.  We had just walked over 20 miles.  TWENTY MILES.  On a bagel, pancakes and molten chocolate cake.  And I call myself a mathlete.  We dropped our camera stuff off and walked to the elevators to go find some dinner.  Once I got to the elevators I got really dizzy and felt myself about to either throw up or black out.  Both sounded cool but I decided I better go back to the room and lay down.  I turned on the tv and Food Network was doing a feature on cinnamon rolls so that helped.

Not 20 minutes later and my knight in shining food armor came through the door with the most delicious brick oven pizza.

If you’ve never had a serious food coma before, take note.  The only thing to help it is to eat pizza.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

We had to leave for home the next morning but what a way to end the most magical 30th birthday celebration I could have ever imagined.  Thank you again to the most amazing future husbandgarbl!

This is going to come as a shock to most of you but I came to the realization in New York that I am not a cupcake person.  I thought I was.  Really.  I’ve had a Sprinkles cupcake and enjoyed it.  I’ve had a Dimples cupcake and enjoyed it.  I even got really excited about them when I first tried them.  But I think it was the excitement of other people that made me think I had to be excited too.  Like how everyone is freaking out over the first In ‘n Out Burger coming to Texas.  I AM SO FLIPPIN EXCITED ABOUT THEIR BURGERS AND I’M NOT EVEN A BURGER PERSON EITHER!  YAY?!?!

I made the mistake of reading a bunch of food blogs before I went to NYC and many of them raved about the cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery and Crumbs Bakery.  Since we didn’t find a Crumbs in our 1,800 miles a day of walking the city, we did find Magnolia so I wanted to try it.

They sure do look purdy!  But honestly, especially looking at them right now, I have no desire to eat one of those.  Maybe it was because I really didn’t like them?  Maybe you have to be in a cupcake mood?  Maybe paying $2.75 for a cupcake is retarded?

We ordered a pistachio cupcake with pistachio meringue buttercream and an orange cupcake with orange meringue buttercream and an orange cream surprise inside.  I tasted Jason’s (the orange) and was not a fan.  Before I say it was sick, Jason said he liked it so I can’t bash on it too bad.  My pistachio cupcake tasted like a 4 yr-old tried to make something using sand and playdoh.  I recently decided that I don’t even want a cake at my wedding so disregard everything I just said about cupcakes.  I’m obviously off my rocker.

Thankfully, we happened to find gold when we walked up on Empanada Mama restaurant.

The restaurant was absolutely tiny – about 6 tables and a small bar with stools on the other side of the wall.  I had to suck in my cupcake belly just to sit down in the booth.  The tables are right on top of each other too so we were able to learn a lot about the New York dating scene.

We started off with an appetizer of guacamole served with plantain chips and yucca fries.  This was phenomenal.  I would like to recreate this meal at home.  If only I knew what a yucca or plantain was.

Jason ordered the arroz con pollo a la columbiano.  This contained sofrito seasoned yellow rice with green peas, yellow peppers and shredded chicken and served with a side of maduros (fried sweet plantains).  He was all mad jealous of my empanadas once they came out but his dish was excellent.

I ordered 5 different empanadas because I am tops in my weight class of professional eating.  I had the mambo italiano (roasted Italian sweet sausage with red and green peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese and a touch of tomato sauce), greek spinach (spinach and feta), greek sausage (greek sausage in traditional greek spices), reggaeton (caribbean style roasted pork with sofrito yellow rice and peas) and a vegetable (steamed potatoes, carrots, string beans and lima beans).

They came served in individually marked bags so you knew what you were eating.  As if I can’t tell sofrito rice from a lima bean.  I can’t.

Aren’t they adorable?

I’ll take an empanada over a cupcake anyday.

Five empanadas really was too many.  It was loud in there and the waitress apparently told me she orders 3 to fill up but I could have sworn she said 5 or 6.  Though I was stuffed to the brim, I finished all of mine like a good girl and enjoyed every single bite.  I’m phat.

All empanadas come with a side of dipping sauces.  I don’t remember what they were but obviously I liked the red sauce better.

We had covered about 15 miles of walking so we were pretty spent after dinner.  We walked back to the hotel and were happy to see we could get some southern hospitality if we needed it.  Luda!

Couldn’t call it a day without kissing a pig though.

Day 4 recaps to come!

Day 3 started off with champion eating, as usual.  We started walking straight for the Wafels & Dinges food truck as soon as we were out the door.

SO MANY OPTIONS!  Mini wafelini?  No, I go big or go home.  Brussels wafel?  Nah, I’m not in the mood for light and crispy.  Liege wafel?  Yes, the soft and chewy secretive waffle that the Belgians kept secret from us for so many years until food trucks came along!

Jason went for the brussels wafel topped with syrup and powdered sugar and had bacon cooked into the waffle.  Yes, you heard me correctly.

I was like a deer in the headlights when ordering so a nice, local New Yorker lady next to me took me under her wing and said “order the liege wafel topped with bananas and spekuloos spread or I will punch you in the face.”  Not one to argue, I went with her suggestion and boy am I glad I did.  I ended up buying a jar of the spekuloos spread (vegan peanut butter like spread with gingerbread-cinnamon cookies mixed in).  I want to serve these at my wedding.  Guess we’re getting married on the street in New York City!

Hazelnuts roasting on an open lightbulb.

After waffling around all morning, we decided to walk the town again and see what we could find.  We walked too long though and I started to get cranky pants.  We did a quick Yelp search and found an organic vegan restaurant with some pretty good reviews.  We’re not vegan nor are we thinking of going vegan but we thought we’d see what the NYC hippie crowd looked like so we headed to Candle Cafe.

Oh here’s what they look like.  It was a very small restaurant but we only had to wait a few minutes for a table because we were there for a late lunch.

They have a fixed menu plus daily specials.  As you can see, it is not cheap.

I started off with a Green Goddess drink, a juice of mixed greens, apple, lemon and ginger.  If this is what vegans drink, I don’t want to be vegan.  It needed some aspartame and a dollop of xanthum gum and it would have been great!  It looked pretty though and I felt healthy choking it down drinking it.

Since I was ready to bust a cap from hunger, we got a starter of Seitan Chimichurri – citrus herb marinated seitan skewers.  We had to google seitan and even after reading about it we still didn’t know what we were eating.  The gluten part of wheat?  How is that meat like?  They were tasty good though!

Jason liked seitan so much he ordered the Cajun Seitan sandwich!  Is it pronouned “satan?”  I don’t know but I hope not.  Ooooh yum have you tried the new Cajun Satan strips from Church’s?!  See?  It would be bad.  The Cajun Seitan sandwich had pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado on a focaccia bun with ancho chile aioli and coleslaw.  He said he would prefer a bacon cheeseburger for lunch.

I went with the Tuscan Lasagna made with grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, tapioca cheese and seitan ragout topped with tomato sauce and served with greens.  The greens were chewy and bleh.  The lasagna tasted awkward.  I probably shouldn’t have gotten something that I can easily compare to a meaty, cheesy dish.  I would not order this again.

Though we weren’t too impressed with Candle Cafe, we had enough nourishment to get us through a Central Park hike and last us until afternoon snack time.  More to come!

So we had like 300 recommendations for places to eat but we had to narrow it down because we were only in NYC for a few days.  We decided instead of spending a bunch of money at an expensive restaurant for one dinner, we would treat ourselves to a four course dinner at cheap places!  We’re smart!  Like the water.  We were told to go to Gray’s Papaya for a hot dog but the one near our hotel closed so we hit up the next best thing for our appetizer course, Papaya Dog.

2 hot dogs and a drink for $3.99?  YES PLEASE.  Also, the dude in the picture below was cracked out.  But honestly, NYC crackheads aren’t nearly as scary as Dallas crackheads.  I think it might be the cold weather.

I ordered a simple dog with kechup and relish and it hit the spot.

Jason topped his with chili and grilled onions (we had Orbitz) and we split a papaya drink.  For $4 we were off to an awesome start!

Bitter beer face man!  Why have I not bought Jason overalls yet?

For our primo dish (1st course), we hit up an Indian wrap joint that my friend Slow Mo recommended.  Kati Rolls makes Indian burritos using paratha, an Indian flatbread, filled with your choice of meat, cheese and vegetables.

They offer a cute diagram to pick your proteins.

Jason “rolled” with the unda beef (egg and beef) for $5.75.

While I rolled with the aloo masala (spicy potato mix) for $4.75.  They were phenomenal!  SO much flavor packed into the most amazing Indian burrito wrap.  This was a great call.  We wanted to order more but we had to save room for secondo (2nd course).

On our way to dinner part three, we passed by Radio City Music Hall!  It’s like we were famous.

Okay kids this was our favorite visit of the night.  The temperatures had now dropped to to the teens, our legs were sore from walking all over the city all day long and we were without hat or gloves.  However, you don’t see a place on Yelp with four and a half stars reviewed by 1,562 people and not try it.  By the way, this place also came highly recommended by Slow Mo, our food expert.

The 53rd and 6th Halal Guys cart is a must when you go to NYC.  There is nowhere to sit so you need to be prepared to find a table indoors if it is cold or find an outdoor bench somewhere.  We had to duck behind a nearby building to try to get away from the icy cold wind but once we started eating, we forgot that we now had frostbite.  The combo plate was unreal.  Lamb, chicken, pita, lettuce, rice and a tzatziki like sauce that knocked it out of Yankee Stadium.

It would have made total sense to end the night on a chicken ‘n rice high but in true Foodgarbl fashion, we walked to Shake Shack for dessert.

Their special of the day was the Car-Mallow Anthony shake after the newest player to join the Knicks.

I decided to make my own concrete with vanilla custard, hot caramel sauce and chocolate covered pretzels.  My mind said stop eating but my belly said I can make room!  Belly wins belly wins!

We had so much fun walking around the city to eat dinner.  I highly recommend this method to those of you who are up for some adventure!  On the way back to our hotel for the night, we passed the New York Times building.  Rad.

Walking around NYC is crazy.  Everything is so exciting that you don’t really notice you’ve gone 10 miles and haven’t eaten anything in over an hour.  Luckily there are views like this to distract you.  I believe that is the Brooklyn Bridge on the right and the Manhattan Bridge on the left.  Both connect Manhattan to Brooklyn.  Damn dassa lotta bridges.

Here is the running path from where we took our bridge pics.  I was jealous of all the runners.  Running in NYC seems so cool to me.  Perhaps someday I shall do the NYC marathon.  I’ll probably have to in order to burn off all the calories from what I eat there.  Maybe Bad Boy Entertainment will sponsor me!  Because we have so much in common.

I was never good with Lego’s but this structure is just mind boggling to me.  I don’t understand how things like this are built.  Probably because I watch Real Housewives instead of How It’s Made.

My brain hurt from thinking too hard about bridges and my legs were sore from walking so long without a donut so THANKFULLY we just so happened upon Doughnut Plant in the lower east side.

I took one look at the menu and couldn’t pass up the creme brulee donut and a cup of spiced chai that they make in house everyday.  Best cup of chai I’ve ever had, hands down.

Foodpeoples?  Looka hurr.  There is creme brulee inside the cake donut.  Top is torched.  Whole thing is blessed by the Pope.  Or tastes like it.

Jason went with a glazed yeast donut.  He devoured it before I could get a bite.  Usually I’m quicker than that so I was disappointed in myself more so than I was upset with him for not sharing.  I still yelled at him in public though.

Jason ordered a cup of joe and topped it off with a little local milk from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in New York.  It’s so nice to see local businesses supporting each other.  Doughnut Plant is like hey Ronnybrook Farm you my boy blue.

Post doughnut snack, we made our way back through Chinatown towards our hotel so we could eat dinner.  Looking at these scrumptious fish made me hungry again!

Hello Kitty.

Mmmmmmmm 美味美味美味美味

Just past Chinatown you run into Little Italy.  You also run into 20″ blades on a Chevy Impala.

It’s no Ford Fiesta but that is one baller whip.

Oh look who learned how to make cannoli’s!  We thought about eating dinner in Little Italy but people actually came out of the restaurants and were trying to hassle us to come in and eat.  I felt like a piece of meat.  Like a rump roast.  We had better plans for dinner anyways.

There are some pretty trendy bikes all over NYC.  I am a nerd and as such I take pictures of bikes.  They are super bike friendly here with places to lock them up all over town.  Sometimes you have to watch out for bolt cutters though.

New York City shopping is fancy.  I loved window shopping.  I’m unemployed though so I was allowed to look but no touchie.

With some awesome recommendations for quick, cheap food, we were ready for a four course dinner kind of night (at four different places).  Get ready for it.

After lunch at Blue Smoke, we walked around the city some more to window shop and people watch.  When I started to get a hunger pang from the area known as my dessert compartment, Jason’s red alert signal went off and we made a beeline for Max Brenner’s.

A table for 2 for dessert only please.

Mom, there’s a bald man on my napkin.  I’m scared.

We got a lunch dessert appetizer of Mexican hot chocolate made with red chili, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper.  I expected a much stronger flavor and was not impressed.  Don’t worry, real lunch dessert made up for it.

This my friends is the hazelnut cream banana toffee crepe.  OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!  SO GOOD!  Served with a side of caramel ice cream topped with chocolate crunchy wafer balls and a drizzle of milk chocolate ganache.  All healthy because there are bananas in there and they give you a side dish of oranges and mint to cleanse your palette.  Many of the tables around us ordered fondue and I’m not gonna lie, I was major jellie.  The fondue is obviously ballin.  Major thanks to Serene for the suggestion!

I called my grandmother on Sunday and asked if I could take her to lunch on Valentine’s Day.  I didn’t expect her to remember our conversation but she called Monday morning and said she was dressed and ready!  Somebody was ready to bust out of the home and party!  My dad and I planned to take her to Garden Cafe but we got there and they were closed Mondays

Next stop: Mextopia on lower Greenville.

They have a nice patio that would be great for people watching during happy hour.  Lower Greenville used to be so trendy.  I guess it still is trendy if you have a nose ring.  Lately it just seems like it’s been riddled with fires and drunken attacks.  My uncle used to own a bar down the street from Mextopia.  One day a guy came in who had just been stabbed.  He just wanted a glass of water.  Rules are rules though, no shirt no stab wounds no service.

What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, Mextopia!  The interior is not too big and has bright colors and Mexican art on the walls.  They even have an open kitchen to watch the chefs making a big pot of pozole (Mexican pork and hominy stew).

The bar is typical of lower Greenville.  You have your beer, your tequila, your glasses.  It’s pretty awesome if you’re into that.

We started off with some guacamole (pronounced “wakaflocka”).  Their guac was ridonk.  Creamy and avocadoey with a hint of lime.  This was the large order.  Their salsa was tasty fresh too.  My grandmother doesn’t like spicy things but I saw her dipping her chips in the salsa like it wasn’t even no thang.  Maybe after all these years she’s coming around?

For my entree I went with the Calabaza con Pollo, a boneless chicken breast with squash, zucchini, corn and tomato in a light broth.  It was delicious but there was nothing light about the broth.  It basically flooded my plate (note the beans swimming in the broth).  Luckily, I don’t eat the rice and beans anyway.

Light broth residue:

My dad went with the fajitas and ordered them 5 star spicy hot.  We couldn’t tell if it was garlic salt or what but the chicken, peppers and onions were cooked to PERFECTION.  They were some delicious fajitas.

Served with corn tortillas (or flour if you drink maiz hatorade).

Oh your grandmother doesn’t take a shot of tequila on Valentine’s Day?  That’s weird.  (Mom – JOKING!  That’s water, we wouldn’t do that to her)

My dad told my grandmother if she was good and ate all of her soft cheese tacos then we would take her to get dessert.  You’ve never seen an 86-yr-old wolf down tacos like Crazy Bettye.  She wanted that frozen custard and nothing was going to stop her (except maybe a sopapilla).

We headed on over to Wild About Harry’s.  My dad and his daytime Valentine posed for the press.

Crazy Bettye had herself a scoop of pralines ‘n cream and I went with a vanilla concrete mixed with Heath bar pieces.  I don’t mean to compare but as you can tell by the picture, my dessert can beat up her dessert.

Sometimes I’m very discreet with my picture taking.  Here I feel that I captured the striking similarity between Hot Dog Man’s shoes and my dad’s Crocs.

We had a great time with the Beejinator (her name is Bettye Jane but we affectionately refer to her as: Crazy Bettye, Beej, BJ, Bettye, Whacked mother-in-law, Kablamaw, Mamaw and Memaw).  Getting old is whacked but when you have days like this, you tend to forget about the whackedness of it all.

I want to share with you something magical.  Something Malaysian.  Give me a map right now and I could not point out Malaysia.  Nor could I point out Kentucky but we’re not talking about fried chicken.  After dining at Blue Ginger Garden, I have concluded that Malaysian Cuisine is off the hizzy.  It seems to be a mix of Thai, Indian and Chinese.  Maybe throw a heaping tablespoon of Vietnamese in there for good measure.  THE FOOD WAS RIDONK GOOD!

When we walked in, we were immediately greeted by one of the owners.  While we perused the menu, the other owner (chef) came out and introduced herself and gave us an overview of the menu.  It is clear that this is a family run restaurant and they are trying their hardest to get it off to a good start.  I’ll tell you what, I’m sold.

We started off with a glass of Teh Tarik (literally “pulled tea”).  Esther the owner recommended this.  She also gave an explanation of what it meant but there was a minor language barrier so at one point I thought she was trying to play a harp.  Teh Tarik is made from black tea and condensed milk and tasted very similar to chai.

The interior of Blue Ginger Garden is very intimate.  There is even a private room inside where you can throw a wild party.  You could even give away wild rice as a party favor.  I know, I should have been a party planner.

For appetizer number one, we started with Spring Rolls served with chili dipping sauce.  They were not your average spring rolls.  I’m a bad food blogger and forgot to take a mental note of what was inside but rest assured it was not simply cabbage and shredded carrot.  Don’t quote me on this but I’m pretty sure there was crab in there.  Whatever it was, they were only $2.50!!

PAY ATTENTION!  Appetizer number two was CWAZY GOOD!  The roti canai (Indian pancake) also came highly recommended and for good reason.  The Indian style flatbread was served with a curry dipping sauce on the side that included a piece of chicken on the bone.  I wish this was served as an entree with a slightly bigger portion.  This was only $2.75!!

My future husbandgarbl ordered the Flat Rice Noodle in Creamy Egg Sauce (Wat Tan Hor).  Haha, he ordered Hor.  The noodles were stir-fried with shrimp, squid, pork and vegetables.  On the bottom were surprise crispy noodles to give it a crunch.  This dish was phenomenal.  We can’t wait to go back and get it again.  And again.  And then maybe again.

Red bowl.  Rice.  Black spoon.  Alicia Keys.  Unicorns.  Thumbprint.

I needed my veggies so I opted for the Mixed Curry Vegetables with Tofu Puff.  I love magic dragons and I love tofu.  Combine the two and you get this monstrosity.  PEOPLES: the tofu and veggies in this dish were cooked perfectly!  I was treated to eggplant, red bell pepper, okra, red hot chili pepper, cabbage and tofu puff in a coconut milk red curry.  The chili peppers gave it the perfect amount of heat.  If I hadn’t stuffed my face with egg roll and roti canai, I wouldn’t have been a big pansy and had half of this wrapped up to go.  Actually, the entrees here are huge so it is a good idea to share.

Here is a close up of the huge chunks of eggplant and tofu.  At one point the owner had to run down to the grocery store (he literally ran – there is a Tom Thumb at the corner of the shopping center) to go get more vegetables.  Now that’s what I’m talkin about.

I am definitely going back here.  I might even go back this week.  They are closed Mondays which is a bummer because I really wanted to start Malaysian Monday Madness.  Oh well.  There’s always Moroccan.  One minor complaint: I ordered two Diet Cokes and they charged me $1.50 per can.  No fountain service here.  But I’m gonna give up soda soon so that won’t be a problem.  I said that last year.

I’m only slightly embarrassed to say that we went to get dessert afterward.  Look, I’m a professional food blogger.  Sometimes I must stretch my stomach out for your benefit.  You’re welcome.  We heard about a place called Crepes for U on Yelp.  It is located in the Asia World Market grocery store in Plano.  Please go to the website.  I’ll give you a minute to take it in.  Now, go to www.zombo.com.  Right?  Are you with me?!  You can do anything at zombocom.  Monkey monkey crepes for who?  Am I in the twilight zone?

After walking in to Crepes for U, we were greeted by Paul, the owner.  Paul asks me about my fancy camera and I tell him I am Chief Garbling Officer of Foodgarbl.com.  I asked him if I could take a few photos and he got nervous thinking I was a crepe concept stealer (CCS).  I assured him all I wanted to do was Garbl so he gave in.  Besides, who could resist my adorable mug?  I ordered the Cocoro Crepe with banana, fresh cream and hazelnut chocolate sauce.

Paul is a master in crepe making.  He can multi-task too.  While making my Cocoro Crepe we talked about food blogging and Tei An Restaurant in One Arts Plaza.  He said I should try it.  He loves to talk about food.  He even said at one point, “you have no idea who you just met.”  I wasn’t sure if that meant he’s with the Crepe Mafia or if he wants to be my food BFF.  Either way I was kinda nervous.  Should I make our friendship Facebook official yet?

Notice the squiggle pattern.  Paul has an uncanny artistic talent.  OH.  Forgot.  He asked how I wanted my crepe cooked.  Here is my confusion.  I like soft crepes.  That’s the only way I’ve ever had them.  I also like powdered sugar on them.  Paul recommended medium cooked crepe because it was my first time.  He also told me to hold the crepe like a taco when I eat it out of the snowcone.  I never knew crepes could be so complicated.

Jason just got back from Tokyo where he said every restaurant had their menu items in plastic outside so you can see what you’ll be ordering.  Crepes For U also had them!  Nostalgic.

I expected a soft crepe with a Nutella spread and sprinkled with powdered sugar for garnish.  Instead I got a well done crepe taco in a snowcone.  I r confuse?

Paul showed us pictures from Halloween where costumed hooligans came in for Crepe tacos.  Bunny Baby, Crepes for U.  Auk.

Loyal foodgarbl reader Janice told me today there is a crepe joint at Northpark.  I’m going to have to make a trip and do a comparison.  My reader(s) are amazing.